Islamabad: Recently, the federal government, for the first time, has declared that educational institutes would no longer have Saturday as a holiday. This new policy shall commence from 30th November in the year 2024 to 1st February the following year 2025. It is meant to address the learning losses occasioned by recent school closures.
Why Saturday is Now a Regular School Day
As mentioned in the notification released by federal authorities, such a transition is necessary to recover the learning years students have lost. Due to this, multiple disruptions, including recent protests and Rawalpindi and Islamabad city road blockages, significantly affected the academic calendars. Making Saturday one of the working days for the federally run schools and colleges is standard practice to fill this gap.
Context: Why This Change Was Necessary
Only a day earlier, many schools within Islamabad and Rawalpindi had opened their doors after being shut for four days due to political protests and the closure of roads. Such unexpected interferences affected continuity in learning, forcing students to fall behind their lessons, an area that the government had to intervene.
They noted that such closures are not the first; they are following a consistent trend given political instability, especially the PTI protests. On these occasions, road closures and any form of public disruption made school closures necessary, and even business operations were not spared.
To offset the loss in academic time, this policy has been implemented to ensure time is optimized in class, thus enabling children to cover for missed lessons.
In this case therefore, the following implications are posed for students and parents:
From tomorrow onwards, learners in all federal institution schools will go to school from Monday to Saturday. This change may need some shift in family practices, but the purpose is to support students in conducting their learning activities without disruption. Teachers and administrators will also have the chance to change their teaching schedules to allow them to fill in the gaps they never had time to address.
The Broader Implications
The move also establishes the government’s continuance in emphasizing education, especially when disrupted. It corresponds to the increased demands for academic institutions’ reinforcement, considering political and other unpredictable political fluctuations.
This could be a blessing in disguise for students, and it could relate the argument to the section on the distribution of curriculum time that followed it in the official document. Thus, children can learn more effectively, prepare for the exam in advance, and have a strict schedule throughout the day.
Final Thoughts
Even though going from a five-day school week to six might make it look like students are working harder than they are, it was a functional move to help students stay caught up in their education. Through its stand to ensure that young people get back to school to make up for the lost year franc, the federal government triggers the important role of education in placing the country on a central leadership path.
Watch this space for more posts on how schools and students cope with this big shift.
